One example of such a play is "splitting tens." That is an agressive play that's usually foolish, except when someone is "card counting"? When suspected, card counters are "barred" from casinos (or ...

In "Points, Schmoints," Marty Bergen related an instance in which he announced "skip bid," before "jumping" his partner's two diamond bid to the five level (instead of three). According to him, his ...

"West" (the opening leader) has to lead before seeing the dummy. Both declarer (South) and partner (East) ought to study the dummy before playing. But often they do not.
Suppose South wins the trick, ...

The other day whilst playing an epic, 4-deck game of Munchkin, I found myself well behind and in a position to let someone win so we could quit. I didn't want to leave early (I did anyway!) but the ...

Some would call it cheating. The perpetrators sometimes call it creative play. These players are the kind of people who think it is ok to peek at the bottom card while shuffling a poker deck to give ...

A Korean-Japanese player I occasionally play Mahjong with insists that it's okay for the next player to take a tile from the wall and contemplate it while the previous player hasn't yet discarded. She ...

In Warhammer fantasy, new codecs for the races are released periodically that tweak units' attributes, cost, etc.
About 15 years ago I remember comparing two versions of the High Elves codec, which ...

I know some people enjoy playing this way, but the other 50% of players seem to prefer a more casual game. This often stops people wanting to play at all, and so Settlers gets left on the shelf.
The ...

Games that have developed a strong professional circuit generally consider resignation a courteous behavior. Some consider not resigning discourteous. This question is about the rest of board gaming: ...

I've had a long running debate with some folks I play with regarding concession. Some argue that is it is unsportsmanlike to concede a game if you are not doing very well. I contend however, that if ...

Most card games have a fairly common etiquette. One rule for Rummy I know of is that you should announce any intention to adjust the visible cards before touching them, to indicate you are not taking ...

When a team has 3 tricks and the other scores a trick, you can throw in all the cards because you know the team of 3 tricks will get one point only. There is no sense playing out the final trick. I ...